"That's a lot more than 'just a few', Basil!"

"Fuck! I know, just shoot!"

Going back into VATS, I saw the tracers exit Tanya's combat rifle and zip toward the horde of rotted flesh in slow motion. I quickly depleted my AP, a physical representation of my stamina, by putting one burst each into the four closest ghouls. I accepted the targets and watched as my body automatically did the heavy lifting for me.

Usually, draining all my stamina would leave me slightly winded, leaving my power armor to compensate. However, This time, a little cartoon reaper popped into the center of my screen after the last ghoul in my targeting queue dropped dead, and my AP bar was instantly refilled. It seems I've lucked out, and the two levels I've invested into Grim Reaper's Sprint have given me a second shot at using VATS. And hell, if I weren't currently living in a horror movie, I'd probably have found the little reaper with his briefcase comical.

Another complete use of my AP later, and the horde was cut down by another four. Combined with the ones Tanya dropped, we've taken down about ten in less than fifteen seconds. Sadly, I didn't get another hit of stamina, and those dozen we killed barely put a dent into the mass of ferals still pouring out of the tunnels.

This was definitely more ghouls than I expected, and there was a real risk of getting overrun here. Maybe only five ghouls were in the first section and less than ten in the following train yard, not dozens. I guess a bigger world corresponded to more enemies. Shoulda known better.

Making a snap decision, I started slowly backing away and yelled at Tanya to do the same.

"Tanya! Get back across the drawbridge! Using it as a choke point is our best bet!"

"Got it! On the move!"

Proving her experience surviving the wasteland for so long, my lover quickly turned and sprinted back into the quarry behind me. As the mag in my assault rifle ran dry, Tanya got set up again, and she started popping off shots again, though slightly slower because she was further away and had to take more time to aim. Headshots were the name of the game here, as ghouls were more than capable of soldiering while missing limbs.

Storing the empty assault rifle, I pulled out the trusty minigun and started firing into the mob while slowly backing onto the bridge. Spent casing literally poured out of the ejection port like a rain of hot brass. The sound of bullets being fired mixed with the *tinks* of brass hitting the floor and the whirling of the motor spinning the six barrels. Two of the Scrapbots we left in the control room were also blasting away with their laser rifles, causing severe burns on the ghouls they hit and lighting one of them on fire.

Bodies were exploding from Bloody Mess activating, limbs were ripped off from the supersonic hailstorm of lead, and ghouls were dropping dead and then being trampled and crawled over by the waves behind them. It was absolute pandemonium. I constantly floated between the real world and VATS, sometimes using my AP before it was even wholly refilled.

Giving Tanya a small collection of grenades I found was probably the best decision I've made yet, as she could toss explosives for me since both my hands were occupied with manning the minigun. It got dicey for a bit, but deciding to use the bridge as a choke point was right. Feral ghouls weren't precisely the cleverest bunch, and having them stumble on each other trying to reach us in the confined area of the bridge made focusing my fire much more effortless.

Some fell off, but not knowing how to get back up immediately made them easy targets for Tanya to pick off while I worked on the leading group. After almost emptying an entire minigun magazine, we managed to mow down the herd of Fallout's equivalent of zombies. As the barrels of my minigun slowed, I placed the hunk of steel down so I could get out of my power armor, drink some water, and rest.

Walking over to Tanya, I gave her some water, and we just took a minute to breathe and get ourselves collected again. After getting hydrated and a well-deserved break, Tanya surprised me by grabbing my collar and yanking me around.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?"

"I. Don't. Know. Stop. Shaking. Meeeeeeeee...."

I probably could have stopped her if I wanted to, but I understood her frustration since I told her there would be maybe a dozen ghouls max in the first area. Venting is healthy, but it would be nice if she stopped because my neck hurts from the repeated back and forth. Eventually, she calmed down, and I could lean against the railings and try to get my head set on straight again.

"Any more surprises I should know about?"

"Frankly, I have no clue. As I said, I know there are more ghouls, molerats, and maybe a sentrybot somewhere. My memory's not great, OK? I guess the world isn't exactly as I remember. I mean, you're proof of that since I don't remember meeting you in the Commonwealth. Just keep your eyes peeled."

With a long sigh, Tanya walked over before getting on her toes and kissing the cheeks.

"I guess I should have known things wouldn't be so simple after signing up with you. Sorry if I got a bit violent back there."

In return, I gave her a smooch on the head and a quick hug.

"Nah, I would have been pretty frustrated too."

Separating from me, she picked up her combat rifle she leaned against a wall, and inserted a fresh mag.

"Remind me what we need to do again?"

"We need to find some blueprints and bring the workshops online so I can start building mineral extractors."

"Let's get to it then. Honestly, it's not that bad if that's the worst it will get."

It WAS NOT the worst it was going to get...

15 minutes later

"How are there more of them in here than out there?!?!"

Constant muzzle flashes illuminate our small hallway as a mountain of grotesque ferals wearing construction hats and torn-up vault suits sprint at us.

"Who cares? Just don't stop shooting!!!"

I momentarily stopped firing as one of the ghouls that received so much radiation that it was now glowing a vibrant green reach mere feet away from me. Swinging my power armor metal arm around, I bashed the creature into the side of the wall and watched as it crumbled to the ground. I stomped down on its head with my heavy metal boots, pulverizing its skull before returning to firing on the ever-approaching mass. 

I tried to keep the nasty sensation of caving someone's head in the periphery of my mind and focusing on fending off yet another zombie horde.

1 hour later

"FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING RATS!"

I screamed as I swung a molerat by its tail over my head and crashed back to the ground. Like the ghouls, what should be a handful of molerats turned into well over twenty of the damn things. Something cracked inside the animal, and its hind legs jerked a few times before the damn thing finally gave up the ghost and stopped moving.

We only brought two scrap bots and an outrider in. The Tankbots were too big to fit in the hallway connecting the entrance to the vault proper, and I wanted to leave enough robots to secure the quarry from any would-be intruders. We lost one of the scrapbots in the brawl with the second batch of ghouls while the other one was lying on the ground after being tripped by the mole rats and wiggling its limbs like a turtle flipped on its back. At least the outrider was able to provide some support from the air.

Another mole rat then popped up from a hole in the dirt and used its oversized buck teeth to gnaw at my ankles, causing me to almost trip and fall over. Pissed at the thing, I swung my leg back and forth. The power from the motorized joints was no joke, and the animal launched a good five or six feet into the air.

Before it could fall back to earth, Tanya swung a metal baseball bat at the molerat like she was trying to win the home run derby. Her weapon caught the side of the head, making it flip a few times comically before landing back down. The bat impacting its head snapped it violently to one side, instantly killing the thing. The sound of claws clicking against rock and gargled screeches came from further into the job site, where we found ourselves, so I reloaded my assault rifle while Tanya raised her bat again, waiting for the next wave of Rufus's irradiated cousins to show themselves.

Another hour later

"Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!!!"

The damn thing picked me up. IT FUCKING PICKED ME UP!

The Deathclaw that ambushed us while we were searching the North sector of the Vault rushed me while I was firing away with my shotgun. At this point, I'd run out of ammo with my minigun and assault rifle, so I was relegated to using the combat shotgun. Apparently, repeated shots of 12 gauge weren't enough to stop a charging deathclaw because the giant crossover between a chameleon and dragon rushed me down before grabbing me by my shoulder and FUCKING SUPLEXING ME!

If it wasn't for the massive amounts of pain I was experiencing and the TBI I definitely had at this point, I might have laughed at the clanking sound my helmet made like a bucket getting dropped onto the floor. Or that an overgrown lizard was manhandling someone in a full suit of power armor like they were a Happy Meals toy. But I didn't find the situation too funny since a deathclaw slashed away at me with talons almost a foot long.

Thank goodness for Tanya. As I got laid out, she bought me time to get back on my feet by landing precision shots on the Deathclaw's knees and ankles, which I named Big Bertha. Having its joints shot a few times caused it to stumble and take a knee. Taking this chance, I quickly got up and sprinted at the momentarily downed deathclaw. Channeling several hundred pounds of unfiltered metal rage, I kicked the Deathclaw's head like a kicker might punt a football.

The kick knocked the animal out, lying motionless on the ground. To be sure, I located my shotgun lying on the ground and picked it up before walking back to the Deathclaw. Jamming the barrel right into the base of the skull, I pulled the trigger several times. You can never be too sure, after all.

Another hour later

I slotted the control board we found in a collapsed section in the Eastern workshop, marking the clearing of two of the three areas in Vault 88. The outrider was the only robot left with us, it's ability to fly keeping it from harms way.

"At least this sector was pretty empty. Hopefully, the Northeast follows the same trends."

"Maybe, but you neve- Wait. Do you feel that? No... I can feel it, but... where are you?"

"What?"

"Shhh!"

Turning around, I saw Tanya slowly spinning in place, seemingly searching for something. She kept rotating until she was facing a tunnel. Before I could ask her what she was doing, Tanya bolted down the tunnel without a word. Not knowing what Tanya was up to, all I could do was give chase. Following her footsteps, I eventually caught up to her and found Tanya feeling around a large limestone wall.

"They're here... Basil! I need you to get rid of this wall."

"You want me to do what?"

"Just do it! Trust me."

Why'd I have to go and stick my dick in crazy...

Deciding to go along with whatever was running in Tanya's head, I activated the settlement workshop and found the wall scrappable. Deleting the wall, we were immediately greeted by the sight of a large cavern filled with glowing green rocks sprouting out from the floor, walls, and ceiling. Immediately after opening the cave, my Geiger counter spiked, confirming that the glowing rocks were uranium deposits.

Under normal circumstances, being exposed to highly radioactive materials would immediately be the most concerning thing in my life, but Vault 88 doesn't give up. Something noticed our intrusion into the cave, and the sound of stone crumbling and chittering was followed by several giant scorpions turning the corner and seeing us.

"God damn it."

I raised my shotgun and prepared for another fight. But right before I could start blasting away, Tanya raised her hand and shouted for me to stop.

"Basil! Wait! They're not here to hurt us."

Confused, I looked at Tanya to see her pop some Rad-X. More scorpions were joining, some crawling around the walls and one even hanging from the ceiling. There must have been two dozen of them here staring at us. But instead of attacking, they were laser-focused on Tanya, who was slowly approaching the group.

I tried following her to grab her if the situation soured, but she shooed me out when the Radscorpions noticed me approaching and raised their stingers. Seeing me back off, the scorpions lowered themselves again as Tanya walked up to the largest scorpion of the bunch. Not only was it the largest but also the most distinct, with scarlet chitinous points scattered throughout its carapace.

"Hey there."

Tanya cooed at the scorpion, almost like a mother talking to a child who had just returned after scraping their knee.

"You're hungry? Of course you are. There's a bunch of mole rats we killed North of here. You and your friends can have them. You're a growing boy and need your nutrients, after all."

She's talking to them now? 

 "What's that? A big mean boy has been hurting you and your friends? OK, why don't you show me where he is and we'll take care of him."

What's this now?

The scorpions then all turned around, skittering away deeper into the cave. Turning to me, Tanya motioned for me to follow along as well.

"Come on, Basil. These guys need help with something that's been killing them."

Before I could tell her, 'hell no', the woman was already walking away. Cursing under my breath, I threw caution to the wind and chased after Tanya. Once I caught up to her, I tried to get her to clear the situation up.

"What's going on, Tanya? Why the hell are we following gigantic scorpions further into their home?"

"I felt them calling me after you activated that last workshop. They need our help, Basil, and I think I can tame them if we help take care of whatever is hurting them."

"Tame them? After what happened to you? Are you sure this is smart, considering how I found you and how you got into that situation?"

I shuddered, remembering the scene at the ant nest I found Tanya in at the satellite station.

"No, this is different. I had never felt so clearly in before this. It's always been like yelling through the fog when I communicated with the ants, only feeling a general idea of what they want. But with these scorpions... I know everything. It's clear, almost like they're pushing images and words into my mind. And they need our help."

I bit my lips and considered if I should trust Tanya's judgment or pick her up and just hightail it out of here. What sold me eventually was that look in her eyes. The confidence and determination in her eyes, this wasn't a woman unsure of what she was walking into.

"OK. I believe in you. Fill me in on what they want us to do."

"Not sure what exactly it is since the scorpions have never met one, so they can't describe it very well. I think it's some kind of robot, a large one, too."

We continued, guided by the radscorpions, until they led us to another limestone wall.

"They say there's a chamber behind here where the robot is located. They offered to dig a tunnel big enough for us to go through, but I wanted to check if you can do it easier before I ask them to start digging."

Hopping into my workshop interface hovering over the wall showed the entire thing get highlighted green.

"Yeah, I can destroy this wall as well. You ready to fight whatever is hiding behind it?"

Tanya gave a short nod, and I swear the Radscorpions were also getting ready since they raised their stingers and pincers. Scrapping the wall showed a cavern that led downwards into a large chamber.

In the center of the chamber was a large metal cylinder with a head-like structure popping out the top. Its single red eye turned toward our group, scattering red light and scanning us.

"Movement detected. Adding target to threat matrix."

Once the robot declared that it had recognized us, steam started pouring out of its back and unfolded itself. Its form was immediately recognizable as a sentrybot. Its minigun began to spool up, smothering the miniscule amount of hope I had that the sentrybot wouldn't be hostile.

"I really, REALLY shouldn't have stuck my dick in crazy?"